Heart of Ice
by Trooper 3.6
Summary: A massive freak snow storm hits the city, Japanese and US forces sent to evacuate survivors are trapped by the continuing storms. A team is sent in to rescue civilians and investigate what has happened. Can Yuichi survive and can he save the people he loves?
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes: This is kind of a stretch but I feel I can make it work. Cross over fic between Kanon and the video game SpecOps The Line. It will follow the events of the…er…sort of good ending to the game. None of the endings of The Line were actually good (happy) endings but then again that's what you get when you play a game based on a book titled HEART OF DARKNESS. About a year has passed since the events of Kanon (the anime). Enjoy and please review.

Yuichi Aizawa ate his sushi with a satisfied grin, it was delicious as always; his aunt was a wonderful cook. The whole family was together at the table, Yuichi, his aunt Akiko, his cousin Nayuki and their guest (who practically lived at the house anyway) Ayu. Ayu, who had woken up from a long coma the previous winter, had been walking and running on her own since late summer and now that she didn't need to be pushed around in a wheelchair by Yuichi anymore she came and went at as she pleased. Yuichi would often tease her and call her a freeloader but his aunt Akiko was always happy to have her and any other guests who happened by. Nayuki described her day at school and her track club practice afterwards before asking Ayu about her day. It was a normal ending to a normal day for Yuichi.

After dinner, Yuichi helped his aunt with the clean up before sitting on the couch and turning on the TV. He changed the channel to the news, interested to see what was happening elsewhere in the world. He had grown to love his now home city and the mountains surrounding it but never could get over the fact that it is not as open or elaborate as Tokyo and is despite having all the luxuries of city life it was still isolated in comparison to other cities in Japan. The news channel was just bringing up some breaking news; the news caster, a pretty lady with fine cleavage (which Yuichi couldn't help but snicker at), stated that the UN had confirmed that the cause of the massive sporadic sandstorms which had been plaguing Dubai for over a year, was global warming. Yuichi snorted a chuckle, the global warming theory was very widespread (especially in Japan) but he personally never found it very convincing. He knew better than to bother making a counter-point to it whenever someone in school brought it up but felt it was nothing more than a viewer magnet for news media.

"Watching something funny?" asked the gentle voice of Akiko from the kitchen. Yuichi was taken off guard; he hadn't intended to be loud.

"No, just the news," he replied. "The same general stories they always report, the end of the world by global warming and such." Akiko walked into the room and had a look at the TV herself. The news caster went on to explain that the storms mysteriously ended about six months ago and gave a recap of the story which had been the talk of all news media since midsummer. The American 33rd Infantry battalion had gone into Dubai before the worst of the storms hit in attempt to evacuate the city but the storms got worse and civilization lost all contact with the Dubai. After the storms soon after the storms vanished, the US Army sent a small detachment of soldiers into the city. The city was in ruins, the entire 33rd infantry had been whipped out and no civilians were found alive. Only one man had survived whatever happened inside the city, Captain Martin Walker. A photograph of Walker filled the TV screen, it had been taken by a photo journalist as he exited a plane in the US, he had given no public report about what exactly happened in Dubai but his face said it all. Yuichi, felt a cold rush over his body as he looked at the photo; the man was unshaven, his face cut and scratched in several places, the right side of his face looked as if it had been scorched by fire and hadn't healed well. What truly made Yuichi run cold were the man's eyes; they were cold and empty, they seemed lifeless. The screen cut back to the news caster and Yuichi shook off the cold feeling as best he could.

"The horror," said Akiko, who now stood beside the arm of the couch. Yuichi looked up to her in question. Akiko turned to him and saw the confusion on his face, she seemed like she was a bit shaken herself. "It must have been horrible for that poor man," she said, clearly she had caught onto the same notion Yuichi had. "All that death, and only he survived." Yuichi nodded and looked back to the screen uneasily. He fought hard to keep that cold feeling from rushing over him again.

The news caster explained that Walker's after action report to his superiors, which was made public by the US military soon after his return home, stated that after the 33rd was isolated inside the city, the soldiers declared martial law and tried to keep order and save as many civilians as they could. Some of the civilians felt they were being taken over and gathered weapons, forming an insurgency to fight the Americans. Captain Walker and a small team of Special Forces operators had been sent into the city to reestablish contact with the 33rd and inform the Army what had happened during the six months in which contact with Dubai had been lost. Shortly after Walker and his team arrived in the city, the insurgents destroyed the city water supply and made an all out attack on the American forces. The entire 33rd Infantry Battalion was whipped out as well as Walker's entire team. Most of the insurgents had been killed in the battle but the few who survived soon died of dehydration. Walker had been granted the Distinguished Service Cross (one of the highest awards, granted by the US Army) for his actions in Dubai and The UAE government was hard at work on rebuilding Dubai.

"Well, that was a fine mess," said Yuichi as the news caster went onto explain how global warming had caused the storms and how the UN was forming a committee to solve the problem. "Fat chance," Yuichi thought in response the part about the UN. The UN had a committee for everything and they all seemed to have better things to do than get things done. He recalled that just yesterday he had seen a van marked UN driving down the road toward the center of the city. He thought nothing of it at the time and little of it at the present. He felt a hand gently patting the top of his head and he looked up to see that it was Akiko.

"Don't worry Yuichi," she reassured him with a smile. "I'm certain nothing like that will ever happen here. Yuichi smiled back and nodded, the thought of massive sandstorms happening in the city had never occurred to Yuichi and, given the climate, sounded ridiculous. "I'm going to bed, don't stay up too late," his aunt said and left the room. Yuichi turned off the TV (glad to miss a boring weather forecast), stretched out on the couch and looked out the nearby window. The snow was really coming down, the city had been known for having cold winters but it was only mid November and the ground had been blanketed with snow for over a week. Yuichi sighed at the thought of having to shovel more snow in the morning. A faint whistling noise and a second glance to the window told him that the wind was picking up, in fact as he watched the wind blew the snow much faster. The walls in the room made a crackling noise; the wind was blowing very strong.

Yuichi was starting to grow concerned. He stood up from the couch and walked to the window for a better look. He looked out and saw the rest of the neighborhood through the mist of blowing snow flakes. All the trees were bending and stretching with the wind, Yuichi has seen video footage of hurricanes and typhoons, in which the trees bent and stretched just like the ones outside. He tried to get a look up wind but couldn't. He walked to the kitchen and looked out the window there. He saw the storm front moving in, it wasn't the first storm front he had ever seen but it was the first one to terrify him to the bone. A massive dark cloud stretched all across the mountain range and headed south; strait toward the city. The storm front seemed to envelope the entire sky, no sunlight could be seen and no break in the clouds. It was getting closer and closer by the second, at the base of the storm front Yuichi could see a mass of flowing white coming down the side of the mountain range toward the city, it was an avalanche.

Yuichi's eyes widened and he began to pant for breath, panic was hitting him hard. "Cut it out you idiot!" he thought. "You need to warn the girls and figure out what to do." The sound of someone thudding down the stairs snapped him back into reality. He turned and saw Ayu, dressed in her overcoat and mittens, standing in the hallway.

"I'm heading home Yuichi," called Ayu as she headed for the front door. "I'll see you after school tomorrow; we'll get some taiyaki together."

"Ayu, No!" Yuichi shouted and plowed into her as fast as he could run. Ayu gasped as he pinned her against the wall with a thud.

"Uhgoo!" Ayu whined her habitual exclamation (which Yuichi both teased and adored her for). "Yuichi what is the matter with you?" she asked, then she looked up into his eyes and saw the raw terror in them.

"Don't go out there," Yuichi half gasped-half whispered. "We need to wake up my aunt," he continued.

"But Yuichi, what's happening?" Ayu asked and was answered by a loud crash from the kitchen and a gust of frigid air. Ayu screamed and latched onto Yuichi's arm, Yuichi grasped her in his arms to; she took it as a sign of protection but he was just as frightened as she was. The two of them turned and walked toward the kitchen, a tree had been blown through the window and penetrated halfway through the room.

"Come on," he gasped and dragged Ayu upstairs with him to his aunts' bedroom. Nayuki was waiting for them at the top of the steps, no doubt awakened by the loud crash from the kitchen and Akiko opened her own door before Yuichi could knock.

"What was that noise?" asked Akiko.

"Aunt Akiko, the wind blew a tree through the kitchen window!" Yuichi answered, panting for breath.

"Are either of you hurt?" she asked, her face filled with concern.

"No, we're both fine," replied Yuichi. "But there's a very large storm heading our way and I saw snow coming down the mountain!"

"An avalanche?" Nayuki gasped and clasped both her hands over her mouth. She started trembling all over, the fact that the broken window down stairs was letting in ice cold wind had little to do with it. In an instant Akiko was at her daughter's side.

"Don't worry Nayuki," she said and stroked her hair. "Everything will be fine," she soothed. Yuichi, thought as quickly as he could.

"We all need to stay together," he started. "We need to dress warm and gather blankets before the storm hits. Aunt Akiko, your room has a phone in it; the land lines may go down but we have our cell phones just in case," another crash from a window downstairs cut him off and Ayu latched onto his arm again, tighter than ever. Yuichi remembered his own cell phone, which he had placed on the kitchen counter when he came home from school. "All of you stay up here, I left my cell down in the kitchen; I just need to grab it," he said and turned to the stairs. Ayu wouldn't let go of his arm. He twisted and jerked until she lost grip of him. "Wait here, I just need to grab it," he didn't give her time to answer. He darted down the stairs and into the kitchen. They all had cell phones but there was no guarantee which ones would work and which would be lost in the coming storm. He knew he may need it to call for help, and all his friends numbers were on his cell, the faces of all his friends flashed through his mind. He couldn't lose them.

Yuichi rounded the corner pushed his way past the tip of the tree and grabbed his cell from the counter. He turned to run back up the stairs but froze as he looked past the tree and out into the storm front, now so close he could see buildings being swallowed by the cloud of frozen darkness. The wind blew into his face with terrifying speed; the storm front was only seconds away. The wind suddenly spiked with enormous force, knocking Yuichi backwards into the wall. Before Yuichi blacked out he felt the piercing cold and heard Ayu crying out his name.

6 months later

Mission statement; US Army, Delta Force. Operation: Heart of Ice

On November 20, 2012, a massive snow storm hit the mountains north of Tokyo. The storm caused several avalanches which buried several towns and blocked others from the rest of the island. The storm itself never permanently dissipated, it continues to this day, forming a ring of storm clouds around the entire region. The storm rages for hours on end then dissipates into several smaller storms for a few hours then combines to form a whole again. The storm is nothing like anyone has ever seen before. UN scientists are blaming global warming. Whatever the cause this storm is remains active and a threat to Japan and the stability of the entire region. 3 months ago, a North Korean aircraft was spotted over the storm but soon vanished and the North Koreans deny it was ever there.

The first strike by the storm lasted for three days straight. After the storm dissipated the Japanese Ground Self Defense forced mobilized the 66th Infantry battalion and sent them to clear a path to the small city at the center of the storm region (here on referred to as Objective "Ice Heart"). The US Navy's Mobile Construction Battalion 6 mobilized and moved in with the 66th to help clear the roads and assist in the evacuation of any survivors. Colonel Kenji Ieyasu (commanding officer of the 66th infantry battalion) was in command of the joint task force, Captain Armstrong Scott (commanding officer of MCB 6) yielded to his Ieyasu's authority but maintained direct command of MCB-6. Col. Ieyasu confirmed over radio that the 66th and MCB- 6 had cleared a path to the city and were searching for survivors. Soon after his transmission the storm reemerged and all contact was lost. The path Ieyasu had cleared was buried in snow and no further radio contact was made. Flares have been spotted over the past six months and high altitude aircraft have captured footage of both Japanese and US forces on the ground, the 66th and MCB-6 are both still alive and trying desperately to make contact.

Since high altitude aircraft confirmed the survival of the joint task force, the US Air Force has been dropping supplies into the city to keep the task force and survivors alive. Helicopter rescue attempts have ended in failure; the storms are sporadic and unpredictable, two USAF and three JGSDF choppers have been downed by the storms, no survivors were found. Every construction crew sent to clear the path to the city has either been whipped out by storms or retreated in fear. The storm barrier has been thought to be impassible but twenty four hours ago, JGSDF military police found a lone USN sailor walking down the road toward Tokyo; he was wearing the uniform of MCB-6. He had suffered severe frost bite on his face and hands and had gunshot wounds in his left side and right arm. The sailor was barely conscious when the Japanese military police found him, the officer on the scene reported that the sailor gasped "Scott needs help, Ieyasu has gone," then lost consciousness and died.

A nine millimeter bullet was found in the sailors' side, it is unclear who shot him. Whatever his reasons, the man made what was essentially a suicidal journey through the storm barrier to deliver his message. Delta, your mission is to make your way through the storm barrier along with a team of JGSDF Special Forces Group and make contact with Scott and find out what has happened to Ieyasu. You will then establish radio contact with US forces outside Tokyo and assist the joint task force in any way you can until relief arrives. The Marine Corps has been experimenting with Extreme Weather Personnel Carriers (armored vehicles designed to stand in the face of the most extreme hurricanes and even burrow their way through ground and snow. Upon delta's report on the situation in Objective Ice Heart, the USMC Extreme Weather Evacuation Force (EWEF) will mobilize out of US FA Yokosuka and make their way up to the mountains to evacuate survivors of the city and the joint task force.

Captain Martin Walker will lead a seven man squad of Delta force and Captain Shinji Yamamoto will command two seven man teams of Japan's Special Forces Group. Yamamoto will be in overall command of the operation on the ground (in respect to the fact that this operation is taking place on Japanese soil). All Delta operators take note; Captain Walker has been cleared for duty and whatever allegations there may be about the performance of his duties in Dubai he is orders are to be obeyed without question. Refusal to obey orders from a any superior (including Japanese officers) will be punished at the very least with court martial for dereliction of duty, if not for desertion in the face of the enemy. Whether or not there is an enemy, is still unknown. We want to know what the hell has been going on in that city, your mission is to find out. You have your orders. Good luck and Godspeed.

Chief of Staff, United States Army.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's notes: Hey everyone. Hope you all liked the first chapter. Sorry about the cliff hanger ending but I figured it might help to keep your attention. I understand that many of you may not be familiar with the game "specops the line", if you are a fan of shooters or the voice actor Nolan North I highly recommend that you pick that game up. It was action packed, intense and had a dark, gritty and interesting story. Sorry for not putting this in the cross over section but there is not Specops the Line section yet. Enjoy and please review.

Captain Walker couldn't see a thing in front of him. He knew he was at the head of his seven-man team, that he was on the right flank of Captain Yamamoto and his team, and that they couldn't be more than a few meters away from each other but the white out in front of him was so thick and bright that he couldn't help but squint (even with his shaded goggles on). They had been walking through the white out for ten minutes and the strong frigid wind constantly tore into him and the others. The cold bit him to his core; he briefly began to miss the scorching heat of the Middle East but then a vision of a chard woman and child flashed into his mind like a hot poker. He shook the image from his mind with all his strength and realized that perhaps the cold wasn't so terrible a switch after all. He listened into his earpiece constantly for word from Yamamoto; the wind howled so loud around him that it would be impossible for the three teams to communicate without radio contact. It was still wasn't dark enough to use night vision so the best the teams could do was continue heading toward the city and hope they didn't wonder too far from each other.

"Captain Walker, I have a situation here," the voice of Sgt. Rico broke the silence in Walker's head set. Walker couldn't tell if Rico was serious or pulling his leg.

"Mission critical, sergeant?" Walker asked into his mouth piece. He had only known Rico for a day, the seemed a good enough soldier; though he could get a bit cocky from time to time. He reminded Walker of Sgt. Lugo.

"Yes sir, very much so," he answered, his voice seemed to have lightened in tone.

"I'll bet," Walker thought. "Well then take it further up the chain of command," he grunted, with a feeling of déjà vu.

"Roger that," said Rico. "Captain Yamamoto, I have a situation here," he said casually.

"What is your status Sgt. Rico?" asked Capt. Yamamoto. Yamamoto spoke English fluently; he could have been mistaken for an American. The rest of the Special Forces Group soldiers were fluent in English but maintained their accents and could be difficult to understand at times. Yamamoto had been listening in on the entire conversation so far, so Walker had a feeling the man knew what to expect from Rico and didn't mind an excuse to use the radio; it would remind the teams that they weren't alone and the quality of the transmission would give them a good idea of how far from each other the teams were.

"Status is cold as fucking Hell, sir," replied Rico. "Recommending a hot coco break to boost the team's moral and assure overall quality performance of the mission, sir," he continued, not even trying to hide the humor in his voice.

"I thought Hell was supposed to me hot, sergeant?" Yamamoto asked, allowing his voice to betray a sense of entertainment.

"Thought so too sir, everyone always told me that but look around you sir," he said and paused, presumable to allow his audience to look around. "Can't see anything, constant pain, can't hear anything but wailing and grinding of teeth…strike that…chattering of teeth," he continued, a few brief chuckles could be heard over the radio. "So I put two and two together there, hey. I mean think about it, we're all a bunch of hard core, merciless killing machines; we could have died somewhere along the way to here right? Where do you think a bunch of killers like us would end up, hug Captain?

Rico probably meant Captain Yamamoto but every word he had just said sent a rush of fire through Walker. Even the bitter cold of the wind couldn't shield him from the fire burning inside him. Walker fought back the urge to stop in his tracks and take a swing at the first soldier to come up behind him (hoping it would be Rico).

"What the fuck was that suppose to mean, sergeant?" Walker asked. He could tell at the briefing, the day before, that the rest of the team wasn't certain of him yet. They had all heard the official story of what happened in Dubai, but they had also heard the rumors; which, Walker knew, were much closer to the truth than the official story. Rico paused for a long time, probably realizing what he had said and how Walker might have taken it. An uneasy silence fell over the radio.

"I didn't mean it like that, sir," Rico answered, his humorous tone replaced by a sincere professional one. "Just trying to keep it light here, it's been too silent for too long, sir."

"I'm certain he didn't mean any disrespect, Captain," said Yamamoto. Walker knew better than to sigh. He had gotten worked up, which was a mistake. He knew he had to earn his men's trust, and that he couldn't do that if he allowed himself to slip up. Command had given him a second chance as a field operator, a second chance that he had no intention of blowing.

"Very well then, Rico," said Walker, his voice calm and controlled again. "Carry on then." The silence lingered.

"I gotta agree with Rico," said Cpl. Ramirez, the team's radio operator. "Some cultures may argue that this is Hell. When a climate changes this drastically over night, isn't that a sign of the apocalypse; like revelations or something?" Ramirez was known to be a devote catholic, which earned him a mix of respect and distain from the rest of the delta team, the Japanese soldiers hadn't shown any disrespect for the man's faith; Japanese were known for politeness and etiquette.

"Hell, I'll take this shit over, the damn scorching desert any day," said Lt. Picket, Walker's immediate subordinate. Picket was a West Point graduate and claimed ancestry from the famous Civil War general.

"I'm with the LT on this one guys," Cpl. Campbell chimed in. "This shit reminds me of home," he explained. Campbell was from a small town in the mountains of Alaska; cold weather was his specialty. He was already trained to use an AR-15 (the older, bigger, civilian model of the M-14 now slung on his shoulder) years before joining the army. He had hunted wolves in the mountains growing up and learned to survive on his own in the wilderness from his father (a former army ranger). In short; Campbell was a born Delta operator.

"Well, look at it this way mo chachos," said Rico, now confident that he could speak without offending Walker. "Freezing to death out here, beats the hell out of dying of exposure in a desert. Funny thing about freezing is, you go numb pretty quickly…then you feel nothing. When you burn to death, you just keep on feeling the burn till it burns down to the nerve endings under your skin; and until then you'll scream," Rico paused for a moment, as if he could somehow feel Walker's rage building up again. Walker kept his mouth shut, he told himself that Rico was just venting; the man was cold, blinded by snow and miles from home on his first combat op with a man he didn't know if he could trust. "Then again, the sun don't burn hot enough to melt you down to the nerve endings, so in the desert you can look forward to feeling the sunburn till you pass out," Rico finished.

A few of the Japanese soldiers chimed in with their own opinions of the weather and if Hell should be hot or cold. Walker blocked it all out as best he could. He knew that Hell is more than just fire and brimstone, that there was more to it than chains, burning lakes and all horned monsters with pitch forks. Hell is guilt, regret, sorrow and all hope abandoned. It's a place where you look into yourself and see the decisions you didn't know you had made; like shooting first and asking questions later, charging in half cocked without any clear idea what was going on or why. Hell is where the heart doesn't want to be. Walker knew this because he had been there for several months, it took him time and patience but he finally broke the chains and freed himself. He had to soldier onward; he owed it to his country, to Lugo, to Adams, and to himself. Walker wasn't entirely sure about God or heaven, but he knew Hell was real. Many people in modern times scoff at thoughts of heaven and hell; superstitions, they call them. People like that made Walker laugh, they have no idea what they're talking about. Walker had learned that Hell works on a personal basis; nothing is a superstition when it happens in your mind. The white out began to fade and Walker could make out trees in front of him.

"I have a visual," said Walker. "The white out is clearing." He continued walking and the white out vanished in a matter of seconds, revealing a grove of trees ahead of him.

"All units halt," Capt. Yamamoto ordered. Walker stopped and looked over his shoulder; all six of his team members were behind him. Some of the men started removing their scarves and shades, Walker removed his as well. It felt good to feel air on his face again, even if it was piercingly cold. He turned to his left and saw Yamamoto at the head of his team, about ten yards away from him. Beyond Yamamoto he could see the third team with Lt. Yoshimitsu at the head of it. Walker was surprised that the teams had managed to stay so close together through the white out. Ramirez would call it a miracle, Rico would call it luck and Walker wasn't sure what to call it. "Team leaders, report," Yamamoto ordered.

"Delta team reporting; all present and accounted for, sir," Walker replied. A similar response came from Lt. Yoshimitsu.

"Very well," said Yamamoto. The Captain removed his own shades and looked down to a hand-held GPS system strapped to his wrist. "We're close to the mountains edge; we should have a visual of Objective Ice Heart soon. All units advance."

The three teams moved forward into the trees. There was enough space between the trees for the soldiers to pass them without much trouble. It only took a few minutes for the task force to reach a clearing at the edge of a steep cliff overlooking an entire valley. Miles of open snow covered ground came into view and in the center of the valley, only a few miles from the task force, stood their objective. An entire city caked in snow and ice, many of the buildings were in ruins; crumbling, tilting and some with large gaping holes through them. Snow piled up in different places, Walker wondered if parts of the city might be completely buried. It all seemed somewhat familiar to Walker but he had anticipated that. General Abrams (of Delta Force) had briefed him, privately. He had explained to Walker that he was handpicked for this operation specifically because of the incident in Dubai. The General had access to classified information; he knew from Walkers' after action report and his psychiatrists' report what had really happened in Dubai and he saw the similarities in the situation.

"We need someone who has faced a situation like this before," Abrams had said. "What happened in Dubai has never happened to US soldiers before. In the midst of a similar situation, I need to know that I have at least one man on the team with experience. That was some fine soldiering you did in Dubai, Captain. You did what was necessary, even if you don't fully realize it yet. We may need that again or at least someone who'll know what mistakes not to make." Walker knew exactly what the General meant. With him involved in the op, if things did go to shit, there would be someone there who'd climbed his way out of it before.

"Gentlemen," Yamamoto's voice rang of the radio. "Welcome to Objective Ice Heart," he said. Walker turned and saw the captain gazing out over the city from the edge of t he cliff. Walker realized that he was standing on the edge himself. He looked down, the drop wasn't very far; thirty feet at most.

"Looks dead to me," said Rico.

"Lock it up, Rico," ordered Walker.

"Just making an observation for the benefit of the mission, sir," replied Rico, with the tone of a man not seeking to benefit anyone.

"Sergeant, do you not recognize a direct order to shut the fuck…," Lt. Picket began but was quickly cut off by Yamamoto.

"Enough!" his voice wasn't loud, but his authority was unmistakable. "Dead or not, we have a job to do. All teams break out climbing equipment, prepare to repel," he ordered. With that men from all three teams started breaking out repelling lines and tied them off to nearby trees. When the repelling lines were in place, Yamamoto gave the order for the teams to repel to the bottom of the cliff. Picket volunteered to go first and was followed by Ramirez. The rest got in line. The Japanese teams were all at the bottom a minute before Delta. Walker was impressed with their speed. Eventually only Walker and Rico were left at the top of the hill. Rico's face was covered by his shades and scarf but see the automatic shotgun slung over his shoulder (he was the only team member armed with a shotgun; a personal preference of his). Rico hooked onto the repelling line and moved into position.

"Hold up, Rico," Walker ordered. Rico stopped. Walker approached Rico and looked into his shades. "You got something you'd like say to me, sergeant?" he asked. The man's shades looked back at Walker, reflecting his face in both eyes. Rico removed his shades and pulled down his scarf; he looked a lot like Lugo.

"What's there to say, Sir?" he asked in reply. His face and voice showed no emotion but his eyes burned with rage. "You went into Dubai with your squad, you survived and my cousin didn't. Shit happens like that in combat," he finished and eased himself over the edge of the cliff. Walker watched him as he repelled to the snowy floor of the valley. He couldn't blame Rico for blaming him for his cousin's death, he blamed him too. Walker had learned to forgive himself but, from the looks of things, Rico may not so understand. He hooked onto the repelling line and eased over the edge.

"Once more onto the breach," he quoted to himself as he lowered down to the rest of Delta.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's notes: Still no reviews? Come on, a little feedback goes a long way. Well I hope you guys are enjoying this story. There'll be action in this chapter, I promise. Enjoy and please review.

The task force made their way across three miles of open ground, Walker assumed the area use to be farm land but after six months of constant snow storms it was possible that entire neighborhoods were buried bellow their feet. The terrain was uneven and hummocky; rolling snow banks all the way to the outskirts of the city. The teams descended a thirty foot snow bank and entered the outskirts. Small buildings on both sides of the main road, most of them shops or restaurants; places where there should be people, but not a soul to be seen. Snow and ice had painted the entire city white with a glassy finish, most of the buildings had faint accents of their former color when examined closely but from any distance you'd swear they were made of crystals. It was quiet, dead quiet. All Walker could hear was his own breath and the boots of twenty one men. It had only been daylight for a few hours but Walker expected they'd at least find someone by now.

"We need to split up," Capt. Yamamoto broke the silence. He hadn't spoken very loud but interrupting the silence felt like it should have caused a dozen avalanches. "First team; follow me to the center of the city. Second team; head west to the school and search for survivors there, then make your way to the hospital. Delta team; locate and search the train station, the eastern neighborhoods and then meet me and first team at the hospital at the northern end of the city."

"You sure dividing our forces is a good idea at this point, sir?" asked Walker, Yamamoto and the rest of the Japanese soldiers looked at him as if he were crazy. "We have no idea who or what is out there, sir," he said, making sure his tone carried a certain amount of sincerity. "The sailor the MPs picked up had been shot, there may be hostiles."

"We are here to help people, Captain," said Yamamoto. "My, people to be exact; our priority must be to find and assist survivors."

"What survivors?" asked Rico as he stepped toward Yamamoto. "Look around you, this place is god damn ghost town sprinkled with sugar," he said, waving his arm around the environment. "All we're gonna find is buncha corpsicles and some of them are gonna be OUR people!"

"Lock it up Rico!" Walker demanded. Rico shot him a blank glance then stepped back into formation with the rest of Delta.

"MCB-6 came here with Ieyasu to rescue survivors," Yamamoto stated firmly, not giving Walker enough time to make his own point. "We are here to find them, for the purpose of helping them to succeed in that mission. If we split up we can cover more ground, which will help us find survivors, the 66th and MCB-6 faster. There is no reason why we cannot save survivors as well as Ieyasu and Scott."

"I understand, sir," said Walker. "But the fact remains that one of our sailors was shot out here. We have an unknown variable here and if we divide ourselves now, that variable may be a problem."

"I understand the risk, Captain," said Yamamoto, in an understanding tone. "But my order stands. We will maintain radio contact; checking in at ten minute intervals, radio in if you find survivors or encounter any resistance." Walker was frustrated, this was a bad idea. A US Navy sailor had been shot in a city he was sent to save, the city was desolate and now his appointed superior was making a classic horror movie mistake. Memories of Dubai were flooding his mind; all the parallels of the scenario were undeniable. Walker couldn't blame Yamamoto for wanting to help people though, he wanted to help people. He knew what Yamamoto was thinking, he thought the same way almost a year ago as he and his two squad mates entered the city of Dubai.

"Understood, sir," said Walker, straining every nerve in his body to repress his reluctance. He tapped his wrist GPS system setting a course for the train station, the neighborhoods and the hospital. Walker looked up to see Yamamoto and Yoshimitsu doing the same for their objectives.

"Good," replied Yamamoto. "Move out," he ordered.

Walker and the rest of Delta reached the train station after ten minutes of navigating their way through the abandoned streets of the city. They found signs of life here and there; food wraps and cans, barrels willed with ashes and charred remains (no doubt used by survivors to stay warm). Walker radioed these finds to Yamamoto and was told to keep looking. No one in the team made visual contact with anyone but Rico swore he heard someone a few times, even Ramirez thought he heard and saw something in a shop window but found no one when he went inside to investigate. The team was starting to get uneasy, Walker couldn't blame them; the place had an eerie aura about it. The freezing wind howling up and down the streets didn't help much either. Even hardened killing machines like Delta Force couldn't deny that the whole thing was like something out of a horror movie. Walker climbed the concrete steps up to the main terminal platform and scanned the area. Pickett was to his right and Rico followed them from behind. The platform was as barren as the rest of the station, the rest of the city for that matter. The ground and the train tracks were all caked with snow and that same eerie silence which had been plaguing them since they arrived in the city continued. Walker wasn't sure if it was the silence getting to his head or the wind but for a moment, he though he heard someone crying.

"Captain we have a survivor here!" Ramirez's voice came over the radio. Ramirez and the rest were searching the streets around the platform. "North end of the station, sir, ground level," he said. Walker motioned the other two to follow him. He started running, this was the first sign of life they'd found so far. Pickett and Rico were just as anxious, they followed him close. He made his way across the tracks to the other side and went down the stairs facing north. At the bottom of the steps he looked to the left and saw Campbell wave and call out to him. Corporals Campbell, Drake and Jones were standing a few yards behind Ramirez how was kneeling in front of a Japanese girl sitting on a bench, crying. Walker was relieved that he wasn't loosing it, again.

"Is she alright?" asked Walker as he approached the bench. Ramirez didn't answer him right away. He was talking to the girl, trying to get her to answer him. She started to calm down; Ramirez was one of the only two team members who could speak Japanese (him and Pickett). Whatever Ramirez was saying to her, it sounded soothing and supportive. She eventually stopped crying all together and started telling him something. "What's she saying?" Walker asked. Walker looked over her again. She wore a casual winter dress with a plaid scarf clutched around her; one end in both hands. Her hair was short, but feminine. Her blue eyes were still glossy from all the crying, which gave her face a sparkle all of its own, she couldn't have been much older than 16. She was quite lovely. The girl reminded Walker why they were there.

"She says her name is, Shiori Misaka," said Ramirez. It was a beautiful name. "She says she doesn't know where her sister is. Someone was chasing them and they got separated," he paused to let her continue. She looked calm but she spoke in gasps and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. "She thought she'd lost them so she stopped to rest here, her sister and her had met here before but it's been a long time and she still isn't back yet."

"Who is they?" asked Walker. "Who's after her?"

"Gai Jing!" an unfamiliar voice cried out from behind the team. Walker and the rest of delta spun around. What they saw was hard for them to comprehend at first. It appeared to be a samurai. True enough it was a Japanese man holding a samurai sword and wearing armor but as Walker and the rest looked the figure over again they saw that the man was wearing a trash can lid on his head and pieces of various scrap metal tied by string across the rest of his body. He looked like he hadn't shaved since the first storm hit and, as the wind picked up from the north, he smelled like he hadn't bathed in twice as long. The man was standing about thirty yards from the team. He looked at each of them from right to left; he seemed to be panting for breath but had wide grin on his face. "Gai Jing!" he shouted again and raised his sword into the air. Seconds later about dozen other trash can samurai ran up from behind him and stopped at his side. They were all armed with katanas and wearing the same bizarre armor. They were all smiling ear to hear and panting for breath. They looked like a pack of drooling lunatics.

"What the Fuck!" Rico had gasped when the rest of the trash samurai appeared. The team snapped out of the daze they'd gone into at the absurdity in front of them. They all brought up their weapons and switched the safeties off. Walker drew his 9mm pistol and trained the sights on the leader, who still held his sword up in the air. Shiori fell to her knees and grasped Ramirez's knee tightly. Ramirez, who was now standing, looked down to her briefly back to the gang of bushido psychos in front of them.

"There's your answer, Captain," said Ramirez. "What should we do, sir," he asked.

"Let's cap these fuckers," said Rico, glaring down the barrel of his shotgun.

"Wait for the Captain's orders, sergeant," commanded Pickett. Walker knew that was his queue. Every instinct in his mind told him to mow the bastards down right where they stood, but a small part of him knew that those instincts could lead to a deep dark place, a place he didn't want to go back to. Against his better judgment, Walker took a few steps forward.

"I'm Captain Walker, US Army," he introduced himself, his voice was steady but portrayed enough hostility for the metal clad thugs to know he wasn't fucking around. He knew it was a gamble, whether or not they understood English but he figured he could always have Ramirez translate. "Put down your weapons, and back away," he ordered.

"We got you out numbered Gai Jings," replied the leader with the sword. Why don't you surrender? We promise just to cut your heads off," the leader said with a chuckle. The rest giggled along with him, they may or may not have understood. Walker took slight relief in the fact that he could speak English. "Or maybe you give us the little whore. Then maybe we let you run back to your Uncle Sam, till we done fucking her!" he finished with a laugh, which his fellow trash samurai joined in with.

"Last chance, Fuck Heads. Put down your weapons and walk away," said Walker.

"No chance for you Gai Jing," replied the leader. "First we fuck the bitch, then we fuck you-" the man barely had time to finish the last word. Walker fired his 9mm, sending a bullet through his forehead. The man fell backwards, his arm and sword still extended. The rest looked down at the body of their leader for a few brief seconds then looked back to Delta. Their faces were still frozen in carnivorous smiles.

"Banzai!" they all screamed the nightmarish war cry in unison and charged Delta with their swords held above their heads. Delta wasted no time in opening fire. 4 M-4 Assault Rifles, an auto shotgun, an M-249 light machine gun and an M-9 Berretta all emptied their clips into the oncoming Banzai Charge. They were close, very close; almost too close for Delta's weapons to be much use. There were almost twenty of them, sprinting from about thirty yards away, but Delta sprayed the psychos down with lead and they all went down. The battle was over in a matter of seconds, but to Delta it felt like an eternity. Most of them had grandparents who'd fought in the Second World War, but all the storytelling and documentary watching couldn't prepare you for a real live banzai charge.

Walker fired furiously at the maniacs and suddenly he wasn't in snow covered Japan anymore, he was in Dubai and it was a crazed soldier of the 33rd charging at him with a knife. He squeezed the trigger furiously; again and again. The psycho wouldn't go down. He aimed for the man's head, now only instants away from him. He fired the pistol, the bullet ripped through the man's head. The limp body of the psycho plowed into Walker, knocking him to the hot sand. He looked into the lifeless eyes of the rogue soldier; he could already smell the Arabian sun roasting the soon to be rotten flesh. Then the he realized the face of the soldier was familiar to him. A face he'd last seen strangled by the noose of an Arabian lynch mob. It was Lugo. Walker blinked and Lugo's face was replaced by a scruffy Japanese face with a fresh bullet hole through its forehead, its mouth frozen in a harlequin smile. The burning desert sunlight was gone, replaced by a frigid grey overcast. The hot sand was gone, soothingly chilled snow in its place. He was back in the frozen heart of Japan.

"Walker?" Pickett's voice called out to him. Walker looked up to see Pickett and Rico looking down on him. "Are you alright?" asked the Lieutenant.

"I'm fine," Walker groaned as he shoved the dead psychopath off himself and climbed to his feet. "The bastard just knocked the wind out of me," he assured the men and himself. Ramirez had stayed with Shiori the rest had at least stepped toward their fallen Captain.

"Don't even sweat it there, sir," said Drake. "That is, of course, if you can even imagine sweating around here," he said with a weak grin. Drake was a Texan, the weather wasn't to his liking but this was the closest he'd come to complaining about it so far.

"I'm fine," Walker repeated and scanned the battlefield. The bastards had gotten pretty close, but all that did for them was make their bodies end up even messier. Mangled bodies littered the ground; their make-shift armor hadn't had the desired effect. A red growth began to creep across the snow. Rico looked over the corpses in their pathetic scrap metal armor, their hand still clutching their swords.

"Let me go on record here and say this is some wild-ass freaky shit," said Rico.

"That was a fucking banzai charge," Ramirez gasped.

"These crazy bastards had issues," remarked Campbell. Jones, a tall muscular black man from South Carolina, crouched down and looked over the bodies more closely.

"These, fuckers must have been high on something, sir," said Jones. "Their eyes are dilated, the eyes I can find anyway," he said. He started shifting through the corpses pockets. Eventually he stood up with a few small plastic bags. "I think its crystal meth, sir." Walker came closer for a better look.

"Your right," said Walker.

"Jesus!" exclaimed Drake. "A fucking gang of meth heads with samurai swords! This is fucked up!"

"Dear, God!" exclaimed Pickett. Walker turned back to the girl. Shiori was still trembling on the ground beside Ramirez; though she had stopped clinging to his knee and was now holding her hands over her ears with her eyes clenched shut. Ramirez took notice and knelt beside her. He started soothing her, speaking her language. He eventually got her to open her eyes and let go of her ears. She started speaking. Ramirez spoke back.

"She, keeps saying, 'don't let them get me'," explained Ramirez.

"Tell her not to worry, they're all dead," ordered Walker. Ramirez spoke to her. She spoke back.

"She, asked if her sister is here," Ramirez translated. "I think she's in shock, sir," he said. Walker nodded in acknowledgement. Shiori's hands were still trembling. Walker approached her and knelt beside her and Ramirez. He gently grabbed both her hands and looked into her eyes; she slowly turned her head and made eye contact.

"It's going to be okay," Walker said soothingly. Shiori's eyes began to water, she probably didn't speak English but she knew what he'd said. She lurched forward and threw her arms around him. Walker was taken off guard but he didn't falter. Shiori trembled and cried into the chest of his snow colored jacket. With a slight sense of reluctance, Walker returned her embrace. He held her and gently patted her head and shoulder. "Don't worry," he said. "We won't let anyone get you."

"My sister?" she asked in English. Walker pulled away and looked her in the eyes.

"We'll find her," Walker promised. Shiori gave a weak smile and began to rub her tears away.

"You two behave yourselves now," said Rico. "We're here on duty," he finished with a smile. The rest gave a brief chuckle, even Shiori's smile widened a bit. A moment later she straightened her face and turned toward Rico.

"I don't like people who say things like that," she said. Rico grabbed at his heart and leaned back as if in pain.

"Little miss heartbreaker, up in here," he said with a smile. She grinned slightly. Walker stood up.

"We're looking for survivors, are there any more of you?" asked Walker. "Where's the 66th and MCB-6?" Before Shiori could answer, Yamamoto's voice crackled into Walker's earpiece.

"Captain Walker, we heard gunshots from your direction. What's happened, why haven't you called in?" Yamamoto's voice asked urgently.

"This is Walker, we ran into some trouble," Walker answered. "We found a survivor, a young girl. A gang of looters armed with katanas were after her. I gave them a chance to surrender but they attacked us."

"Did you kill them?" asked Yamamoto. "We're supposed to be helping people! I did not give my approval for you to fire on Japanese citizens!" he snapped. Walker repressed an urge to curse the man out.

"They had swords, sir," explained Walker. "There were more than a dozen of them and they rushed us, sir. I wasn't about to take chances with my men, or let the bastards have the girl." There was a pause on the radio.

"Your certain they weren't friends of the girl?" asked Yamamoto. Walker was getting annoyed but his reasonable side understood that the captain was only trying to get the facts.

"When they showed up she hid behind us and begged us to not let them get her. I think it's safe to assume they were no friends of hers, sir," said Walker. There was another pause.

"Did the girl, say anything about the 66th or MCB-6?" asked Yamamoto. "We're nearing the center of the city and still no sign of any…" Yamamoto's voice faded out in a blur of static and white noise.

"Say again, captain?" asked Walker. "Captain Yamamoto, do you read me?"

"It must be interference, from the buildings, sir," suggested Pickett.

"That doesn't make any sense," said Rico. "It was working fine a second ago!"

"I don't got nothing but static either," said Jones. The rest of the team said the same.

"It probably is just interference, in the mean time we have job to do," said Walker, taking charge of the situation. He turned back to Shiori. "What's been going on here?" he asked her. "What happened to the Japanese and American military?"

"They started fighting each other," she said. "Months ago, the one in charge of the army started rallying the survivors against the Americans. They've been fighting for months now." Walker froze; it had happened again. It explained the shot sailor and what he'd said; Scott did need help, because Ieyasu had gone rogue.

"You gotta be shitting me!" said Pickett.

"This is fucking crazy!" Rico moaned irritably.

"How the hell did this happen?" asked Ramirez.

"Right now it doesn't matter how it happened. It happened," said Walker. "We need to find Scott ASAFP," he said. "Shiori, do you know where Capt. Scott is? He's the leader of the Americans."

"Yes," she said with a nod. "The Americans control this half of the city and the hospital," she pointed to the tall white building to the north. "They have camps near the neighborhoods northeast of here and around the hospital. They do their best to protect us from the army and give us supplies but the army keeps raiding us and sending them," she pointed to the gang of dead samurai wannabes.

"These maniacs are working for Ieyasu?" asked Ramirez. Shiori nodded.

"It makes sense," said Walker. "Weapons and ammo are probably growing scarce by now. Easier to just to get some civies high on crystal meth, give them swords and send them to cause havoc," he explained.

"The VC did that in Nam," Pickett added. "Get their men high on every drug known to man and point them toward the enemy.

"It also keeps em dependant," said Jones. "That's how they do it with child soldiers in Africa. Addict them to drugs so they need to come back to them, mix gunpowder into their food to give em hallucinations."

"This is some fucked up shit," said Campbell.

Walker was about to speak when gunfire rattled to the northeast. The team turned to noise.

"The neighborhoods," said Shiori.

"They're being attacked," Walker finished for her. "Let's move it Delta, expedite! Check your weapons," he ordered. "Jones, carry Shiori and the two of you linger in the rear. Don't let her out of your sight."

"Yes, sir," Jones answered. He crouched down beside Shiori. "Climb on girl, we got ground to cover," he said. Shiori climbed gingerly up onto Jones's back and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hold onto me, short stuff, just not too tight."

"I don't like people who call me things like that," she said. Jones smiled.

"No problem Shorty, we'll just make it Shiori from now on then," he said with giggle. The rest of the team reloaded their weapons. Walker switched to his M-4; it was time to up the ante.

"Locked and loaded," each man sounded off as they finished.

"Move out," ordered Walker with glance down to his GPS. The team ran down snow covered street after snow covered street. The snow showed tire tracks now, a sign that the Americans were patrolling the area at least a few times a day. Or they could have been left by Japanese army Hum-vees on raids. Sounds of gunfire and people screaming grew louder. Walker lead the team into a suburban neighborhood, he followed the gunshots. They turned a street corner and the enemy was in sight. About twenty Japanese soldiers could be seen, some were kicking in the doors of houses, and others were lining up civilians. An officer standing near one of the three Hum-vees parked in the middle of the road was giving orders and shouting threats to the civilians his men were lining up. Each Hum-vee flew a Japanese Imperial flag, a flag which hadn't been seen for seventy years. It was back with a vengeance. The officer gave an order and his men started grabbing the women and dragged them to one of the Hum-vees. Walker could guess what this was; even if he didn't remember what men waving that flag once did to the women they rounded up in China.

"Everyone get to cover," Walker ordered. "Jones, hold back and find cover." Jones carried Shiori to the wall of a house on the street corner and crouched down. Shiori let go and hid behind him. Walker and the rest took cover behind the line up of snow covered cars that lined the street side and began making their way closer to the soldiers. They kept their guns trained on the soldiers on their side of the road. Further up the road a gunshot was heard from a house and the Japanese soldiers all turned to their new problem. Now was their chance. "Mark your targets and fire! Don't hit the civies!" Walker didn't need to order twice. His men opened fire, the few soldiers who were on their side of the street went down first. Then the men leaned over the car hoods and aimed for the men near the officer. The civilians ducked for their lives. Walker took aim and blew the officer's brains out.

"Fuckin stay down!" Walker roared in triumph. The five soldiers muscling the civilians around the officer had dropped their prisoners and were firing back, only to be ripped apart by 5.56mm bullets. They twisted in pain, and then fell to the ground. Five more came running down from the direction of the gunshot and another five took cover behind the cars on the other side of the street. Walker, Pickett and Ramirez dove into the snow in prone positions and opened up on the five coming from up the road. Four of them went down immediately the last one tried to throw a grenade, but Pickett put a bullet in his head just after he pulled the pin. The grenade exploded beside the soldier's fallen body, sending bloody fragments of the man and his comrades flying in all directions.

Bullets tore into the cars along Delta's side of the street; there were still five soldiers on the other side. The team fired back as best they could from behind their cover. A bullet lightly grazed the side of Drakes head, he fell to the ground but quickly crouched behind his cover again, he assured everyone he was alright. A thin red mark streaked the right side of his forehead.

"Fuck this," growled Walker. "Flash the bastards!" he ordered. Ramirez and Campbell both threw flash-bang grenades over their heads to the other end of the street; they landed behind the line of cars. A shout of warning came from one of the soldiers, too late; the grenades erupted in a loud bang and blinding light. Screams of pain could barely be heard over the ringing in ears of Delta (they were called flash-bangs for a reason). Rico leaped from his cover, sprinted across the street and slid over the hood of a car. He emptied his shotgun into all five soldiers, clutching their eyes and screaming in pain. He scanned the area.

"Clear, over here," he shouted. Drake and Campbell ran over to the Hum-vees and checked each one, Walker, Pickett and Ramirez scanned the rest of the area.

"All clear," shouted Drake.

"Clear," Walker confirmed. Jones emerged from behind the corner house with Shiori following closely behind. The civilians scrambled to their feet and ran for their homes in terror; they didn't even acknowledge the Delta soldiers. Walker couldn't blame them. The Japanese and American military were supposed to be there to help them from the beginning, instead one turned on the other and before they knew it they'd been forced into a war. Another gunshot rang out from the direction of the first one. Walker signaled for the team to move up and investigate. Drake and Campbell advanced first, scanning the grounds for stragglers as they went. Walker and the rest followed after. A Japanese soldier limped out of the driveway of a house only a few yards away from Drake and Campbell. They raised their weapons but the soldier collapsed and blood oozed onto the snow beneath him. Drake and Campbell turned to the house he'd come from. It was like most of the other houses on the block; two stories, and caked with snow, only there was a bottom half of a tree sticking out of one of the ground level windows. When Walker saw it, he figured it must have happened during one of the storms. The front door of the house was wide open. Campbell and Drake approached it gingerly, taking cover on both sides of the door. They looked to Walker, who was about thirty yards away by the roadside, he nodded to them. Campbell slowly leaned to his left to see in the door. A gunshot was heard, Campbell fell.


End file.
